Overworked and unwilling to follow the rules
by wolfypuppypiles
Summary: written for prompt I got on tumblr: Could you write a fic where peter is overworking himself really hard and it kind of makes his healing factor stop working just before a battle?


"Pay attention to what's going on around you. Civilian's don't always do the smart thing and run, sometimes they stop and take pictures first, so you need to make sure you're aware of any potential- Peter are you listening to me?"

The teenager let out a small snort as he woke, arms flailing a little from where he hung upside down from a web in one of the training rooms in the Avengers compound.

"Uhh…yes?"

Tony sighed. "Were you sleeping just now?"

The bright eyes of the mask narrowed, as he no doubt made a very guilty expression from under the fabric. "What? No, I'm listening to your great advice!"

Tony wouldn't have believed him anyway, but rolled his eyes as the kid incriminated himself even more, whispering to his suit. Tony rolled his eyes. Peter was not as covert as he probably thought, and he could hear every word.

"Hey Karen, what was he talking about? Never mind, I can just go through the baby monitor footage later. Also, we need a better name for that."

Tony walked towards Peter, spinning him from his web with one finger as he frowned.

"If this is boring you, we can reschedule. Do you normally fall asleep in class?"

Peter waved his arms about, trying to stop the spinning as he defended himself, voice high. "No, I'm not bored! I'm just…I don't know, I've been tired lately."

Tony's glare softened a little, changing its tone from angry to concerned. He patted the teenagers side, nodding to himself.

"Okay, training's done for the day, go have a nap and get something from the kitchen."

He left, and Peter sighed, dropping down from his web as he sulked. He knew Tony was disappointed.

He really hadn't meant to fall asleep, in fact, he loved his training sessions, he just hadn't had any energy recently. He had school during the weekday, with patrols afterwards, then the weekends were full of training with the avengers. He loved it, but it may have been taking a toll on him.

Karen's calm voice came to his ears, quiet and confused. "Why didn't you tell him you are feeling unwell?"

Peter shook his head as he walked to his room. "I'm supposed to be training to be an Avenger, Karen. And Avengers don't take sick days, bad guys and aliens don't stop just because I'm tired. I have to push through it, like they all would."

He pulled his mask off before Karen could reply, and sat on his bed. He really wanted to sleep, and Mr Stark had told him to, because he didn't usually get much sleep after patrols. But, the thought of taking a nap while the others were training or doing important things, was just pathetic and he quickly went to his desk to study instead.

He could barely concentrate, his brain feeling like a lump of wet paper for…whatever reason. He had probably been pushing himself a bit too far over the past weeks, and he knew it, but he meant what he'd said to Karen. He couldn't take time off, he had to push through.

In the end, he didn't have much time to himself anyway, as an alarm rang through the building and flashed on his suit. Peter slipped his mask back on and ran from the room as he spoke to his AI.

"Karen, what's going on?"

Her voice rang through his ears, while Peter ran through the compound, looking for the others. He found them in the ops room, where Tony told him they gathered before missions.

"There has been an attack downtown, and the Avengers are required to take care of it. It seems to be caused by Aliens through another universal breach."

Peter skid into the room, gaining the attention of Cap, who was strapping on his gear, and he came over to pat the kid on the shoulder.

"You ready for this?"

Peter's eyes went wide as he smiled beneath the mask. His first official mission with the Avengers. His voice was high and excited as he practically bounced on his feet.

"Yes, Sir."

Steve smiled and started giving orders to the rest of the team, and Peter had never been so thrilled to be yelled at.

"We don't know much about these creatures, and we won't until Thor shows up. He's been notified but he's in a different realm right now, so it might be a while till he gets here. The area has already been evacuated of civilian's but remember to keep an eye out for each other, use your coms, and stay focused."

Peter squared his shoulders and followed them to the attack sight, more than ready to get to work.

It was different having team mates, rather than tackling missions on his own, but it was a good different, and he loved it. Thor arrived after a little while, and Peter laughed as the Asgardian gave another jovial battle cry and launched himself at a group of aliens coming his way.

Caps voice came through the coms. "Spider-Man, I could use your help with this herd over here, just be careful of their spikes, I think they act like tasers."

Peter hurried over to where he was called, thinking about all the things he had to tell Ned. His best friend would lose his mind if he knew what he was doing; so would his Aunt, but she would be less thrilled, in fact, he made a mental note to keep her away from any news reports that he could, so she wouldn't see him in danger and go nuts.

Peter swung across buildings, to where Cap was taking on a sizable group of aliens, ugly looking creatures with horns and spikes all over them, like a stepped-on tiger combined with a rhinoceros and a rock.

They were so big and strong, they could take down whole buildings in minutes, and it was hard work trying to stop them. Thankfully they were pretty stupid too.

Cap called to Peter again, voice strained as he threw one of the aliens across the sky for Tony to catch and toss back in the portal.

"I could use some webs over here!"

Peter got quickly to work, running across the walls of buildings around him as he spun webs, to make a pen to trap the aliens in. Thor laughed, loud and booming, making Peter smile.

"He can walk on walls!"

Peter tied off the last web and swung to one of the corners as the other avengers went off to sort the other aliens, who had turned out to be the intergalactic equivalent of very violent cattle. They couldn't kill them, only send them back to their very apologetic owner.

The aliens weren't as happy to be trapped, and one of them ran towards him, slamming into his thin frame before he could move out of the way. Peter was glad he'd been away from the others when he was hit, so they didn't have to see him fly across the street, smashing through a glass store front.

Cap had been right, the alien's spikes carried an electric charge, and he felt his entire body seize and shake as he landed on the floor of the electronics store. He groaned in pain as his body trembled, muscles tensing and relaxing sporadically with the aftereffects of the taser spikes.

It was a good minute or two before it stopped, body feeling weak and shaky as he lay on the ground.

Karen's voice was muffled to his ears but he could tell she was concerned, or as concerned as an AI could be.

"Peter, are you, all right? I need you to respond, or I will have to notify Mr Stark."

The teenager struggled to sit up, as the last of the twitching stopped, and ground out an answer from behind clenched teeth.

"I'm…ugh…I'm okay. Don't tell him, anything."

Everything was kind of fuzzy, the suit's vision flickering slightly from the surge of electricity that had coursed through it, and Peter's head felt fuzzy.

But he knew he had to get up and get back to the fight, and he attempted to get back to his feet, only to fall back to the ground amidst the glass and broken phones, screaming out in pain.

Karen's voice came back, too loud for Peters sore head. "I advise you to stay down and allow me to call for help. I have detected a displaced spiral fracture in your tibia shaft, and it can be quite serious. I have also detected a concussion, two cracked ribs, a stab wound, and multiple small contusions."

Peter tried to breathe through the pain in his leg, heavy and agonising, making him feel a little nauseous as he lay on the ground.

"What stab wound?"

"On your left side, just below your ribs. I cannot tell how deep it is, but you need to stop the bleeding. I advise calling Tony for help."

Peter's eyes just wanted to close, and he really felt like having a nap, but the sounds of battle were still going on and he needed to get up. He lifted one heavy hand to his side, quickly finding the wound, as blood flowed down his side. It hurt like hell, and he lifted his head, to look down, only realising what had caused it when he saw the burnt suit pieces surrounding it. It must have been the taser spike, which would explain why it felt like it felt like it was burnt.

"But if it had an electric charge wouldn't that mean it would have cauterised the wound and stopped the bleeding?" Peters voice was strained, as he tried to get a decent breath in.

Karen let out a hum, as if considering, as she flicked through medical files, trying to find a solution.

"Yes, but perhaps the wound is not solely caused by the spike. I cannot give adequate information about the wound, as my sensors over it were destroyed when you were stabbed."

Peter grunted in annoyance and pain, as he lifted his hand once more, to the wound, trying not to throw up as he slipped his fingers through the blood and torn pieces of suit to inspect the gash.

What else could be making it bleed if it wasn't the spike?

And then he felt it; there was a shard of glass buried in his side, blood pouring out from around it.

Peter suddenly felt very sick, and very afraid.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck. Shit."

"Peter, what is it?"

His voice was shakier than before, and it was getting harder to breathe.

"There's…there's a piece of glass in there. It felt pretty big, and I don't…I don't know what to do."

Karen searched her database again, as she spoke calmly.

"Everything will be all right, Peter."

The teenager grunted, and let his head drop back to the ground, hand pressing to the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

"You're only saying that because you're programmed to make me feel better, you don't even know if it's true."

Karen swiped through some more medical files. "Would you like me to stop?"

Peter sucked in a shaky breath, trying not to cry. "No."

He didn't know what to do. It hurt so bad, everything hurt, and his injuries could be serious, so he knew he shouldn't move. But, he'd seen Cap keep going after some hard hits, and Natasha had once finished a mission with three bullets in her shoulder.

They were always treating him like a kid, and he wanted to prove them wrong. He could keep going, he could do it.

"Karen, how fast do I usually heal from stuff like this?"

Her calm voice came once again, making Peter feel a little more in control.

"You're accelerated healing should take care of the stab wound in a couple of hours, and your leg will heal in a few days. Your other, minor injuries, should be gone within the hour."

Peter took a deep breath, steeling himself for what was to come. "Thanks, Karen."

He knew it probably wasn't a good idea, but walking around with glass inside him was worse, so he clenched his teeth, gripped the shard of glass tight, and pulled.

It was agony, pulling it out while Karen yelled at him to stop. But he had to stop the bleeding if he wanted it to heal, and he couldn't do that with the glass still inside. He did his best to stay quiet but he couldn't hold back the scream of agony, and the hot tears that wet his mask, as he pulled the shard out.

He almost blacked out, vision swimming and Karen's voice dipping in and out of his awareness. His heavy eyelids blinked open to inspect the shard, voice slurring as he spoke.

"Fuck that's big. Karen, give me a compression web."

She complied, scolding him as he fired the web at his side, using it like a bandage over his wound.

"It is highly inadvisable to be moving, I will call for help."

"No, don't. It's fine, I heal fast. By the time we finish with these aliens and get back to the compound it will be gone. Now, I just need a splint for my leg."

Karen obviously didn't want to help him go against medical advice, which she made very clear, but she brought up some new suit options anyway.

"Your suit has splint capabilities, for these sorts of situations. I can activate it now if you like, but it will hurt and does not, in anyway, make it safe for you to stand on your broken leg. This is to keep it in place till you find help, and should not be used as a quick fix, only as partial treatment."

Peter ignored her of course, throwing away the glass shard and massaging his temples to quell his headache as he replied. "Sure, let's do that."

She had been right when she said it would hurt. The suit around Peter's leg began to stiffen and bulge a little, as it became less of a fabric and more of a brace, keeping the bones in his leg from moving. It hurt like hell, and Peter let out another cry of pain that left him panting and dizzy.

"God, today has suuucked."

He'd felt like crap for the last few days, tired and slow, and now he was attempting to patch himself up in the middle of a battle, on the floor of a smashed-up electronics store. At least it would be a cool story for Ned.

A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Hey, Karen why hasn't anyone said anything over the coms since I got knocked here? Is the battle over?"

"No, I have been blocking out their conversations so that you could concentrate, they think you are still rounding up the aliens outside. Would you like me to bring the coms back?"

Huh, that was considerate of her. "Yeah, thanks."

He really didn't want to get up, really didn't want to move, but he had to get back to the fight. Cap was still giving orders through the coms, and Tony annoying everyone by playing ACDC through his.

They sounded like they were having fun, now that they knew the aliens weren't invading, just accidently dropped on earth through a faulty portal. Man, aliens were weird.

Peter grit his teeth and fired a web to the ceiling, using it to lift himself to his feet. He activated his coms while ignoring the spinning his head was doing.

"Aliens are all penned up on this end."

Tony quickly replied, sounding out of breath from the fight. "Good job, kid. Hey, you were really quiet there for a while, you good? You didn't go disappearing into any portals, did you?"

Peter tried to keep his voice steady as he carefully swung himself out of the store, using his webs rather than walking on his bad leg, because hey, he sometimes did listen to Karen.

"Yeah, I'm good, need any help?"

Peter was beyond tired, like, get me to bed immediately or I will cry, tired; but he'd asked and so when Cap said yes, he went to help.

Thor was carrying one of the aliens on his back before he threw it into the portal, and Peter swung over to them as they all herded the creatures towards the rift in space.

But it was taking so long, and Peter wasn't feeling any better. Usually, when he was hurt, he could feel himself getting stronger and the pain going away until he was healed, which was usually pretty quick; but he didn't feel better, in fact he felt worse.

His head pounded, and his leg throbbed horribly, and god, his side hurt so badly he had to clench his teeth every time he moved, just so he wouldn't let out any noise.

Thankfully, no one seemed to notice that Peter was staying off his feet, choosing to instead swing from his webs or stick to the side of a building, but when the aliens were all gone, and they went back to the compound, he couldn't hide it.

The others wanted food, and the government wanted a report of what happened, while the media wanted every scrap of story material they could get their hands on, but Peter just wanted to sleep.

His vision was badly blurred, and his eyes kept closing of their own accord. Karen was still asking him if she could tell Tony about his injuries, but Peter couldn't concentrate enough to formulate an answer and pulled his mask off so she'd stop talking.

He was trying to make it to his room, just trying to find somewhere to lie down, but his head was spinning and he felt kind of sick. It was like his body couldn't decide whether to throw up or pass out, so Peter just tried to make it somewhere private before it could pick one.

There was so much noise in the kitchen, and adjoining lounge, that he thought he could slip out unnoticed, but Tony called out for him anyway.

"Hey, nice job out there underoo's, I think all that hard work earns you some Pizza."

Peter couldn't even think about eating, and kept his head low, waving a hand behind him in acknowledgment as he concentrated on walking on his broken leg. He wanted to just swing to his room, but he was too tired and that would be far too obvious.

Tony's voice was more concerned now, because Peter's mouth usually ran a mile a minute.

"Peter, hey are you, all right?"

He could practically feel everyone staring at him now, and knew that Tony was coming towards him, but everything was far away and fuzzy and he was pretty sure he was going to pass out any second.

Steve's worried voice replaced Tony's. "Is that blood?"

Peter's body made a decision. His eyes rolled back into his head and he fell limp, to the floor, landing heavily on his side as yells of concern echoed through the room.

"Peter!"

"Call Bruce, now!"

Tony ran over to the kid, heart hammering in his chest as he watched Peter crumple to the ground, like a puppet with no strings. Cap was close behind him as he landed on his knees next to the teenager and placed two fingers at his throat.

"His pulse is thready and he feels cold, I think he's going into shock."

Peter didn't react at all, to the hands suddenly covering him; his eyes remained closed and his pale face was lax as Cap held him on his side and pointed to the webbing stuck to his suit.

"Tony, he's bleeding."

The webbing had worked as a compress for a little while, but Peter hadn't given his body any rest, or any chance to heal, and the blood had begun seeping from beneath the webs without him noticing.

Tony touched his fingers to the kid's side, paling at the amount of blood smeared over him. "Friday, ask Karen what happened."

The answer quickly came, everyone in the room listening in shock.

"He was electrocuted, and thrown through a shop window. The aliens spike stabbed him, before he was stabbed again with broken glass. He also sustained a concussion, two cracked ribs, which are now broken, and a displaced spiral fracture of the left tibia shaft. Karen advised him to get help, but he insisted on continuing, so he tried to fix it himself. It doesn't seem to be working, his vitals are dangerously low. Dr Banner is on his way."

A few mumbles and curses were whispered at the long list of injuries, but Tony was silent. He felt sick.

"Jesus."

"He just kept going on a leg like that?"

Tony couldn't think, couldn't move; his brain and body was frozen as he looked down at the limp form of the fifteen-year-old he'd brought into this mess.

Thankfully, Steve always seemed to be able to remain calm no matter the situation, and he quickly pressed his hands to the still-bleeding wound.

"Tony, he heals fast, it'll be okay. We just have to get this bleeding stopped, and let him rest, and he'll be fine."

Fridays voice came again, from the speakers above them, as Bruce sprinted into the room. "He has been bleeding for an hour now."

Bruce knelt beside his patient, frowning from behind his glasses. "He should have stopped bleeding by now."

Tony began to panic a little. "What does that mean? Why isn't it stopping?"

Bruce leant over Peter, quickly assessing the kid, and lifting Caps hands long enough to slip gauze under them, before holding them to Peter's side once more.

"I don't know, but if he doesn't start to improve we'll have a big problem. He's already going into shock; he's lost a lot of blood, Tony."

That didn't help him calm down, and the others, gathered close around, became aware of this. Rhodey came up behind his friend and took his shoulders.

"How about we give them some space to work?"

But Tony didn't want to leave, he knew it was the right thing to do of course, but he couldn't. He didn't move, until Rhodey's hands were replaced with Thor's massive ones, and he was forcibly, but gently, pulled away.

Cap looked up from where his hands were being stained red, and it was a look that said a million things at once. Things like, I'm sorry and, it'll be okay, and worst of all…what if it's not?

Thor wrapped his arms around Tony, pressing him to his giant chest in a hug that was surprisingly gentle for someone so strong. "Let them work, Peter is strong, he will be okay."

But Bruce didn't look his usual calm self. Even when working, he usually had a collectiveness to him, that put Tony at ease, because Dr Banner always knew what he was doing.

But now, Bruce was cursing under his breath, and frowning down at his patient, and that told Tony that something was very wrong.

"Shit, it should be healing by now. It shouldn't still be bleeding. I don't know what's happening."

Thor slowly released Tony as he turned to the scientist crouched next to Peter.

"What do you mean you don't know what's happening? Why isn't he healing?"

"I don't know!"

Tony felt as if his heart had stopped. Peter was so pale, he wasn't moving, and now he wasn't healing. He should have kept a closer eye on him, he should have been there, he should never have brought him into this mess.

Bruce started giving out orders as Tony tried to remember how to breathe.

"Get me a bed, so we can bring him to the med wing. Steve, keep pressure on that, Nat can you come keep his head still please?"

Everyone was rushing around, pulling a gurney in, and handing things over. They moved so fast, Tony could only watch, unable to tear his eyes away from Peter's closed eyes and parted lips. He couldn't even tell if he was breathing.

A collar was put around Peter's neck, and a backboard slid under him before he was lifted into the gurney and wheeled away.

Tony wanted to follow but there was a pool of blood on the floor, where Peter had been laying, and his mask was left beside it. And he just stared until Rhodes lead him to a chair and made him sit down.

It took a little while for Tony to come back to himself, for his mind to snap back and remind him that Peter needed him.

"I need to go see him."

Rhodes stood as he did, following him to the medbay, as he tried to convince him to do otherwise.

"Nat said she'd come back when she had news. I don't think you want to see Peter like that, Tony."

But he wouldn't be deterred, he just needed to know if his kid was okay. They made it to the med-bay and Tony first saw Steve, hands and chest stained in red as he stared through the window to the room where Bruce was working on their youngest team member.

Cap turned when he heard them enter, immediately trying to stop Tony from coming any closer to the window.

"Tony, you can't be in-"

"How is he?"

Cap and Rhodes exchanged a look, which was an answer enough. Finally, Steve sighed. "He was really weak, and he lost a lot of blood, but Bruce has gotten it under control now. He's just fixing his leg; it was pretty badly broken."

Steve could see the moment Tony's expression change, and interrupted before he could start.

"Don't, Tony. It isn't your fault. He'll be fine."

Tony shook his head already resigned to blaming himself, as if it were the only thing he knew how to do.

"I should have been looking out for him."

The others didn't try to talk him out of his guilt, because there was no point, Tony would blame himself and close people off and there wasn't anything they could do to stop that. All they could do was be there with him as they waited for Peter to come out of surgery.

Peter came through the surgery fine, and was happy to see the whole team waiting for him when he woke. He hadn't liked worrying them, but it was nice to know that his hero's really did care for him.

Of course, after pulling a stunt like that, he was under close watch and had a lot more rules to follow.

"I don't need a babysitter!"

"It's not babysitting, it's like training, and I thought you liked going on missions with me?"

The teenager sighed grumpily as he picked at the cast on his leg. He was so sick of wearing it, but Bruce had said it could come off in a week.

"I do, but you're only doing it because you think I can't take care of myself."

Tony pushed Peters hands away from the cast, getting another eye roll from him, as he replied.

"I'm doing it because-don't touch that- you don't seem to be able to do as you're told. You could have died, all because you wore yourself out so much that your speed healing was compromised, and then when you were hurt, you just carried on fighting. I know you thought you were doing the right thing, but I have told you before not to lie to me about those things and you still did it. It's like I'm talking to myself sometimes."

The teenager crossed his arms and slumped down in the hospital bed, he'd been staying in for the past three days. "That's what Aunt May says."

"Then why haven't you learned to listen yet?" Tony ignored the sour expression from the kid and kept going with his lecture. "Bruce said you weren't able to heal because you were sleep deprived and malnourished. Malnourished, Peter. Do you know how hard that is to achieve in New York city with Tony Stark, a billionaire, as your mentor? You need to sleep and you need to eat more than others, to keep up with your metabolism. So, you now have a curfew of ten on school nights, and Avenger training is every second weekend so that you have time to rest and relax. That means your rest weekend has no homework, and no patrols, just Ned and some movies and spending time with your Aunt."

Peter sat up in his bed, ready to protest once more. "What?! No, Avengers and no patrols?!"

"Peter, you pulled a shard of glass out of your side and somehow thought it was okay to keep fighting! So, no! Until you learn how to take care of yourself, you have to follow the rules."

"Why do you always have to have so many rules? Why do you have to baby me so much?"

"Because I care about you Peter! I don't want you to get hurt!"

Peters eyes widened and he sat back against his pillows, shocked. Tony just wanted the kid to understand.

"Do you know what it was like, seeing you drop like that? I almost had a heart attack, and Bruce was out of his mind with worry. Steve refused to leave your side, and Natasha wanted to go find that space farmer and kill the alien that hurt you. We were all so worried, Peter, and we can't go through that again. So, I'm sorry that it frustrates you but these rules are there to protect you. Do you understand?"

Peter nodded, all anger gone. "Yes, Mr Stark. I'm sorry."

Tony nodded and sighed, exhausted. "Good. I don't know what I would do if I lost you, kid."

Tony was well aware that he was becoming more dad-like every day, and Peter made him feel so old and responsible; but he couldn't help but love the kid, and so, he didn't mind at all.


End file.
